A sweet Christmas finish and a visit to France

Hello, all! How is November treating you? What is everyone up to this month? We'll be hosting Thanksgiving dinner here on the 28th for a much smaller group than normal ("only" 14), so that is occupying much of my time. I've been busy cleaning, decorating, pulling the menu together, grocery shopping, and doing some baking ahead of time. I'm really trying to scale the dinner back this year for one simple reason--I'm getting old! I'll be 70 (gasp) in January and although my spirit is willing, I just don't have the stamina or energy that I used to have. I really hope everyone understands that things will be simpler. I've already asked our guests to bring a dish or two and everyone is very willing. (To be honest, I think they're just relieved not to be hosting it in their homes :) But, even with my busy month, I've still found time to stitch every day--it really does help with stress, doesn't it?

Last year I made plans to stitch and finish some larger Christmas pieces in 2024 and I've done pretty well. Are any of them fully finished/framed yet? Well...no. But, at least they're stitched! I'll do a little recap of the ones I've done over the past eleven months soon, but for now, I wanted to share my latest finish, this charming Drawn Thread design called "Good Tidings." I just loved everything about this piece as soon as I saw it... the pine needles, scattered snowflakes, the colors, and especially those sweet stocking-capped birds.

"Good Tidings" by The Drawn Thread

Isn't it darling? I stitched "Good Tidings" on 32 ct.  Wichelt Tumbleweed using most of the suggested Dinky Dyes and NPI silks. For the birds beaks and legs, I substituted DMC 3828.

This piece is stitched with silk threads--a real pleasure to work with!

All of those individual pine needles took a while to stitch as did the Smyrna stitched snowflakes scattered everywhere, but I love the final result. Here is a close-up of one of the sweet birds and some of the pine needles.

The little pearl star button on the bird's cap is so sweet, don't you think?

I'd like to find a pretty white driftwood-like frame for this one, but it will have to wait for next year. I'm just too busy right now preparing for Thanksgiving and Christmas. This piece, on 32 ct. fabric, is not huge--it measures 10 1/2 inches wide by 3 1/2 inches high, but it's so much larger than one of my typical ornaments, that it's going into my "big Christmas finish" category!

I'm working on finishing up one last big Christmas piece for this year along with my final two ornaments for 2024--hope to have those ready to share with you very soon!

Giveaway winner... There were several stitchers who put their names in the hat for the cute Cats & Quilts autumn chart that I offered in my last post. And, drum roll please...  the winner's name is:

Lee (in Michigan)

Congratulations, Lee! I hope you enjoy stitching this one... Please send me your mailing address and I'll get this right out to you. (My email is in the right sidebar under "A Bit About Me.") If you didn't win, please keep an eye on this space as I'll be offering another giveaway soon!

So, let's continue our Rhine River cruise, shall we? This week we are going to France--my first ever visit! I wish we had had more time to spend in the first stop, but another tour was scheduled for the afternoon. So, the morning tour felt very rushed. Still, it was a visit we'll always remember in the beautiful city of...

Strasbourg, France 

Strasbourg is located right on the border between France and Germany. In fact, our ship docked in Germany and then we took a bus ride the short distance to Strasbourg. The city itself is large (over 300,000 people), but, of course, we only saw a bit of it. Below are some of my favorite sights--hope you enjoy them, too! (All pictures are clickable for a closer look).

Loved the beautiful city hall with the French flags flying and the words "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" emblazoned on the front

The steeply pitched roofs containing tiny dormer windows are typical of this region of France.

One can't visit Strasbourg without touring the gothic Strasbourg Cathedral. The prettiest pink sandstone was used in the construction of this beauty. The oldest portion of the cathedral that remains (the crypt) was built in the year 1015. Since then it has grown in size to become one of the most visited cathedrals in the world. French author, Victor Hugo, described it as "a skillful combination of monumental size and delicateness"--a perfect description, indeed!

One of the cathedral's entranceways features a red door and intricately carved figures.

A close-up of the beautifully carved entrance

 

A view from the side showcases the many spires and arches

The soaring nave with the organ in the upper left

The Rose Window and the impressive organ (on the right). The cathedral's many stained glass windows were seized  by Hitler's men during WWII. Thankfully, they were discovered in a German salt mine in 1945 by American soldiers and returned to their rightful home in Strasbourg. The 2014 movie "The Monuments Men" describes the rescue of the Strasbourg stained glass along with countless other art treasures (from all over Europe) that had been stolen by the Nazis.

This is the third astronomical clock housed by the Strasbourg Cathedral. It was installed in 1843 and features a planetary dial, sculptures of Christ and his apostles, along with sweet cherubs. When the rooster crows, the apostles move around the clock.

A few close-ups--the sweet cherubs were my favorites!

The stunning altar and the "Pillar of Angels" which dates from the 13th century. Such beautifully carved figurines and angels!

After we toured the cathedral, we wandered outside and passed a statue of Johannes Gutenberg next to a lovely old carousel. What is a statue of Gutenberg, a native of Germany, doing in Strasbourg? Well, it was in Strasbourg that he perfected the secret of printing (in 1440) that led to the invention of the moveable-type printing press that would change the world and the way information was shared.

The Johannes Gutenberg statue in Strasbourg.

The formerly blue skies became increasingly cloudy as we walked down to La Petite France, a lovely area of cobblestone streets, half-timbered houses, and beautiful canals. I so wish we could have spent more time there wandering the old streets. 

I felt like I was in a storybook!

Notice the grey clouds looming and the raindrops starting to fall on the canal

Umbrellas started popping up as the rain worsened.

As the cloud cover became more dense and the rain increased, we began making our way back to the bus to return to the ship, when... OH, MY! An epic hail storm began pelting us with pea-sized hail that stung any part of our body that wasn't covered. We hadn't brought umbrellas (reminder to self: always bring an umbrella when out on tour!) and our shoes and pants got completely soaked as we rushed to the meeting point for the bus. Once we got to the town square we then had to wait until the bus came to pick us up while it continued hailing the entire time. It was probably only ten or 15 minutes, but it seemed more like an hour! It was certainly an experience we'll never forget--have any of you been outside in a hail storm? It was shocking just how much those little ice pellets hurt--I'm so very thankful that the hail wasn't larger. My sister took the photo below of the hail collecting on top of one of the awnings of a restaurant and falling on the ground to the right--amazing how quickly it piled up!

Hail, hail everywhere!

Thankfully, we had packed extra pairs of shoes! We certainly needed them for our afternoon tour when we ventured behind the scenes at the...

MAGINOT LINE:

Four-à-Chaux Fortress, Limbach France

When you think of visiting France, I doubt that visiting a portion of the Maginot Line is what comes to mind, is it?  But this was actually a part of the trip that I was especially looking forward to. Am I weird? As an avid reader of WWII historical novels, I had often seen references to the Maginot Line and I was anxious to see part of it in person to get a better idea of what those brave soldiers experienced as they defended France against the Nazis. The 280 mile long Maginot Line was built in the 1930s to deter invaders and force them to go around the line. It included a series of mine fields, bunkers, gun batteries, and underground fortresses like the one we toured.

The soldiers' entrance at Four-à-Chaux Fortress

We entered through the artillery entrance... down, down, down steep ramps into the complex that was nearly 82 feet underground.

The temperature dropped noticeably as we descended into the darkness and the whole complex had a damp, eerie feel to it. Nearly 600 men manned the fortress at any given time, but were usually on a two week rotation. I can see why! Just spending an hour in that dimly lit, chilly, and humid space left me itching to see daylight again.

The fortress (shown in the map above that still hangs on the walls in the old logistics room) consisted of six combat blocks that covered nearly 75 acres of land and almost 3 miles of underground passageways. The small portion we toured was in Block 2 which had been refurbished after being badly damaged by Nazi troops after they seized the forts of the Maginot Line.

Each block was like a small community and contained a hospital, kitchen, bunk rooms, toilet/shower rooms as well as all of the communications and operations centers.

Throughout the tour, mannequins in uniform occupied the main areas.

I'm not sure I'd want this doctor performing surgery on me!

The communication room with two soldiers at the ready

This old Mickey Mouse themed piece was sketched above one of the sinks and is now covered with a piece of clear acrylic to help preserve it. I wonder if the soldier who drew it survived the war?

Just one of the huge and impressive pieces of artillery used to defend France.

Such an interesting glimpse into history! I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and highly recommend it to anyone who is visiting the Strasbourg area. 

On our bus ride back to the ship, this pretty scene caught my eye.

As we sailed to our next port that evening, we were treated to this beautiful sunset while we were enjoying dinner. As soon as she spotted it, my sister ran up to the top deck and captured this lovely photo.

So, that concludes this leg of our journey... Next time we'll travel to one last location in Germany before heading to Switzerland. Hope you can join me! Thanks so much for visiting "Stitching Dreams" today and for your kind comments and emails. A reminder to any of you who have questions for me, please use my email (found in the sidebar under "A Bit About Me"), to ask them. Most of you are anonymous commenters and I have no way of replying to you unless I have your email. I'm not sure if I'll be back again before Thanksgiving, but I'll try! Bye for now...